Overcoming intuition: Metacognitive difficulty activates analytic reasoning.

Humans appear to reason using two processing styles: System 1 processes that are quick, intuitive, and effortless and System 2 processes that are slow, analytical, and deliberate that occasionally correct the output of System 1. Four experiments suggest that System 2 processes are activated by metacognitive experiences of difficulty or disfluency during the process of reasoning. Incidental experiences of difficulty or disfluency--receiving information in a degraded font (Experiments 1 and 4), in difficult-to-read lettering (Experiment 2), or while furrowing one's brow (Experiment 3)--reduced the impact of heuristics and defaults in judgment (Experiments 1 and 3), reduced reliance on peripheral cues in persuasion (Experiment 2), and improved syllogistic reasoning (Experiment 4). Metacognitive experiences of difficulty or disfluency appear to serve as an alarm that activates analytic forms of reasoning that assess and sometimes correct the output of more intuitive forms of reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The temperature dependence of the electrochemistry of the lithium-sulphur dioxide system

Value for the activation energy, U ^act, and the entropy change, S, for the reaction 2Li + S₂O ₄ ^2– Li₂S₂O₄+2e in acetonitrile have been found to be 72 kJ mol^–11 and — 0.3 kJ mol^–1 K^–1, respectively, by a combination of impedance techniques and the use of a temperature-controlled environment on commercially manufactured cells which acted as constant volume containers.     

What role for microgeneration in a shift to a low carbon domestic energy sector in the UK?

Domestic energy use accounts for more than a quarter of CO₂ emissions in the UK. Traditional approaches to energy reduction look at direct emissions savings, and recommend insulation and efficiency as more cost-effective than microgeneration. However, microgeneration has indirect, ‘soft’ benefits and could play a significant role in emissions reduction. Current uptake of microgeneration in the UK is low, with various barriers—economic, technical, cultural, behavioural and institutional—both to uptake and to maximising energy and emissions savings once installed. Subsidies and spreading information alone do not guarantee maximising uptake, and even if successful, this is not enough to maximise savings. The industry focuses on maximising sales, with no incentives to ensure best installations and use; householders do not have access to the best information, and user behaviour does not maximise energy and emission savings. This is related to a broader state of socio-technical ‘lock-in’ in domestic energy use; there’s a lack of connection between personal behaviour and energy consumption, let alone global climate change. This suggests that a major cultural–behavioural shift is needed to reduce energy/emissions in the home. Transition theory and strategic niche management provide insights into possible systemic change and a suitable framework for future policies, such as supporting a variety of radically innovative niches, both technological and social. Microgeneration, properly employed, has the potential to play a part in such a transition by increasing awareness and energy literacy and empowering people to seriously engage in energy debates as producers, as well as consumers, of energy. This deeper understanding and heightened responsibility are crucial in a shift toward bottom-up emission-reducing behaviour change and better acceptance of top-down energy-saving policy measures, as part of a new domestic energy paradigm. The implications for policy are that, as well as supporting the technologies, it needs to support existing niches and to develop new niche experiments. Policy needs to consider how to promote empowerment and responsibility and support or even develop new energy sector models; this will involve a range of stakeholders and multiple governance levels, not just national incentive schemes.     

A hub-and-spoke model of care: providing specialty care in patients' own communities

The authors describe how they used lessons learned in increasing office efficiency to improve primary care providers' ability to arrange for many specialty consultations and care within a reasonable driving distance for patients.     

The human dead ringer/bright homolog, DRIL1: cDNA cloning, gene structure, and mapping to D19S886, a marker on 19p13.3 that is strictly linked to the Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

A 2-year trial was conducted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of heliotherapy for psoriasis. The course and cost of psoriasis of 46 Finnish patients were first closely monitored for 1 year, then the patients received a 4-week supervised heliotherapy treatment in the Canary Islands, Spain, after which they continued to be followed for another year. Heliotherapy dramatically reduced the severity of psoriasis and also seemed to have favourable long-term effects on psoriasis. The mean direct cost of the 4-week heliotherapy for one patient was FIM12,289 (1 Pound = FIM7.0 in 1989). The cost of flights and half-board in Spain formed nearly 60% (FIM7033) of the total cost. In the year preceding heliotherapy, the mean direct annual cost of antipsoriasis therapy was FIM7335 and in the year after FIM5700, a reduction of 22% in annual costs; this change was not statistically significant because there were large variations in costs among patients. The costs of heliotherapy exceeded manyfold the mean monthly cost of conventional psoriasis therapy. There were no overall savings using heliotherapy in those patients suffering mainly from moderately severe psoriasis. Heliotherapy saved costs only in those patients with severe psoriasis that required expensive medication or ward treatment. Although heliotherapy cannot be regarded as an economical treatment for the average patients with psoriasis, it clears psoriasis effectively and is preferred by patients. Thus, heliotherapy constitutes an alternative for patients suffering severe psoriasis.     

英国西伦敦奥迪中心

<正>项目背景2002年1月英国奥迪公司委托威尔金森·艾尔建筑事务所设计西伦敦奥迪中心大楼。该设计团队多年一直受雇于奥迪公司,设计了英国范围内各地区的新一代奥迪总部。此次的设计任务是为奥迪公司设计出一个能够在通往伦敦中心的主干道上加强公司形象的大楼。     

The evolution of DSP processors

The number and variety of products that include some form of digital signal processing (DSP) has grown dramatically. DSP has become a key component in many consumer, communications, medical, and industrial products, which use a variety of hardware approaches to implement DSP, ranging from the use of off-the-shelf microprocessors to field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to custom integrated circuits (ICs). Programmable “DSP processors”, a class of microprocessors optimized for DSP, are a popular solution for several reasons: they can potentially be reprogrammed in the field, allowing product upgrades or fixes. They are often more cost-effective (and less risky) than custom hardware, particularly for low-volume applications, where the development cost of custom ICs may be prohibitive. In comparison to other types of microprocessors, DSP processors often have an advantage in terms of speed, cost, and energy efficiency. In this article, we trace the evolution of DSP processors from early architectures to current state-of-the-art devices. We highlight some of the key differences among architectures and compare their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we discuss the growing class of general-purpose processors that have been enhanced to address the needs of DSP applications